Weighted shoe



- June 30, 1970 G. F. SHANAHAN WEIGHTED SHOE Filed July 25 1969 INVENTORGERARD F. SHANAHAN BY Jame/r1011 24,421 qu iamw ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent O 3,517,928 WEIGHTED SHOE 7 Gerard F. Shanahan, 11729 DevilwoodDrive, Potomac, Md. 20854 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No.519,353, Jan. 7,1966, which is a continuation-impart of application,Ser. No. 320,037, Oct. 30, 1963. This application July 25, 1969, Ser.No. 844,951

Int. Cl. A63b 23/04 U.S. Cl. 272-57 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Ashoe providing therapeutic advantages to the wearer, having a flatweight-receiving member inside the shoe and coextensive with the soleand having a plurality of vertical openings spaced over its area andbeing open to the interior of the shoe whereby they may selectivelyreceive light-weight plugs or heavy weights. The openings are positionedon the opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of the weightreceiving member so that certain medical and therapeutic eflFects may beproduced by selective and relative positioning of the plugs and weights.

RELATION TO OTHER CASES This application is a continuation-in-part of mycopending application Ser. No. 519,353, filed Jan. 7, 1966, for WeightedShoe, now abandoned, which was a continuation-in-part of my applicationSer. No. 320,037, filed Oct. 30, 1963, for Therapeutic Shoes, nowabandoned.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates broadly to footwearand, more particularly, to shoes and shoe parts having such structure,function and utility that the body of the wearer is physicallybenefitted by wearing the shoe, for example by strengthening the musclesof the legs and other parts of the body and by improvement or correctionof physical defects.

It has heretofore been proposed, and is now broadly known, to provideshoes for human use which have weights associated with them. Theseweighted shoes have never been widely used or commercially available,and it is believed that this has been due to fundamental and importantdeficiencies in their basic concept and their structure. My inventionhas to do with such weighted shoes for human use, and departsfundamentally and radically from all known concepts and structures ofsuch shoes to provide weighted shoes which have new and basicallydifferent structure and mode of operation and use, which have alreadywon wide commercial and professional acceptance, and which have provedthe beneficial results of their use in actual wear.

It has been the principal object of my invention which is achieved bythe shoe structures and shoe parts dis closed herein, to provide a shoehaving incorporated therein a part of parts which will add to the shoeeither a fixed Weight or a weight which may be varied as desired by thewearer, or as directed by a physician, thereby to adjust to any desireddegree the weights carried in the two shoes normally Worn, and toarrange them in a pattern providing a desired therapeutic result.

The invention is described in the following specification and isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view through a weighted shoe accordingto the invention, and

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the weight-receiving part of aweighted shoe according to the invention 3,517,928 Patented June 30,1970 "ice and the leather plugs and weights associated with theweight-receiving member.

This invention contemplates the provision of a pair of substantiallyidentical, left and right shoes to be worn by a human being, male orfemale, each of which shoes is provided with means adding substantialweight to the shoe, although for purposes of this specification and theappended claims only one shoe of a pair will be described. In apreferred embodiment of the invention the weight adding means ispermanently built into the shoe but is so constructed and arranged thatthe total weight thereof may be varied as desired. This shoe comprisesan upper 2 of conventional design which may be slightly larger in insidevertical dimension than a conventional shoe of the same size, for areason which will become apparent. The interior of this upper member isprovided with a leather lining member 4, as shown in FIG. 2. The sidewalls of the upper and lining members are brought downwardly at eachside of the shoe to form the shoe upper into conventional shape, andadjacent their free edge parts they are stitched, as at 6, to thedepending edge flange 8 of inner sole 10, which is within the shoe andcloses the upper at its lower part. This line of stitching also unitesthese parts to the upwardly extending part 12 of an exterior welt 14,the lower part of which is stitched at 16 to the bottom sole 18.

Within such space and permanently laminated to the upper surface ofinner sole 10 there is provided in accordance with the invention a flatweight receiving member 20 which has the same shape and substantiallythe same size as the inner sole 10 and therefore substantially fills thearea defined by the lower depending side wall parts of the upper member2. This member is formed of material such as leather, is preferablyapproximately onehalf inch thick, and is shaped substantially as thesole of the human foot, having a forward part 22 and a heel part 24. Theforward part 22 is provided with five openings and the heel part 24 isprovided with two openings 8, all of which openings extend entirelyvertically through the weight member. One of the openings, 26a, in theforward part is at the front of the weight-receiving member and extendsacross it and is substantially semi-circular in shape, while two of theother openings in the forward part, 26b and 260, are rearward of opening26a and are positioned side-by-side laterally of the weight member, andthe remaining forward openings 26d and 26e are positioned side-by-siderearwardly of the openings 26b and 260 and are also positioned laterallyof the weight mem her, and each of these four openings has its outeredges shaped to conform to the side edges of the forward part of theweight member. The openings in the forward part are defined andseparated by a grid system formed of the material of theweight-receiving member remaining after the holes 26a to 2612 are cut.Thus, the lateral rib 30 separates the front opening from the nextrearward openings 26b and 260 and a lateral rib 32 separates openings26b and 260 from the rear opening 26d and 26e. The openings 26b and 26dlie on one side of a longitudinally extending partition 32 which extendsalong the longitudinal center line of the weight receiving member andintersects the lateral ribs 30, 32 at right angles; and also intersectsat right angles a third lateral rib 36 which separates the openings 26dand 261; from the heel openings.

The heel part 24 of the weight-receiving member has two laterallyspaced, longitudinally extending openings 38, 40 in it which areseparated by a rib or partition 42 which is aligned with the forwardlongitudinal partiof this the weights may be positioned and arrangedwith respect to these axes in order to cause any desired forces to beexerted by the weights on one side or the other of the foot.

In accordance with the invention there are provided for eachWeight-receiving member 20 a plurality of plugs which are generallydesignated by numeral 40 in the drawings and which are preferably formedby cutting the member 20 to form therein the weight-receiving openings26a to 26s and 40, 42. The leather (or other material) plugs 40 whichare produced by cutting the weightreceiving member are permitted toremain within the respective openings when that member is assembledwithin the shoe, and when so assembled a removable sock liner 42,consisting of a thin leather strip and usually a layer of spongymaterial, shaped to conform to the shape of the weight member 20, isplaced over the upper surface of the weight-receiving member and theplugs in the openings therein.

In further accordance with the invention there are provided for eachweight-receiving member a plurality of weights 44 which may be made oflead or any other heavy metal or other material. Each of these weightsis shaped to conform to the size and shape of one of the openings 26a to26@ and 40, 42 in the weight-receiving member and has the same thicknessas that member, and therefore in the embodiment of the invention whichis being described and illustrated seven weights will be provided andwill be of the same size and shape as the openings 26a to 26a and 40, 42respectively.

At any time, either before or after the Weight member is built into theshoe, each of the leather plugs which normally fill the openings in theweight member may be removed and replaced by that one of the heavyweight members which corresponds in size and shape to the removed plug.This removal of plugs and replacement with weights is accomplishedthrough the open interior of the shoe after partially or entirelyremoving the sock liner 42 which covers the weight member and the plugsor weights therein. It will be apparent that by a proper combination ofretained leather plugs and heavy weights the distribution of Weight overthe entire area of the shoe may be adjusted and varied as desired. Thus,a beginner who wishes only to strengthen his leg and other muscles mayleave in all of the leather plugs except one and replace only that onewith a heavy weight. As he grows more used to the weighted shoe he mayreplace a progressively increasing number of leather plugs with weightsuntil all of the leather plugs have been so replaced, at which time hewill be carrying maximum weight in each shoe.

The weight-receiving member 20 will normally be permanently connected tothe (insole) by being united thereto in any suitable way, and its uppersurface will be perfectly uniform regardless of whether the openingstherein are filled by the leather plugs or by the weight members, as inall embodiments of the invention the upper surface of theweight-receiving member, formed as it is by the peripheral wall andtransverse and longitudinal partitions which define the openings, is ata uniform level with the upper surfaces of the leather plugs and weightmembers within the holes. Therefore, either with or without the sockliner which covers the upper surface of the weight member, completecomfort will be provided to the bottom of the foot.

In an important manner of use of weighted shoes having aweight-receiving member constructed in accordance with the invention,the weights in the forward and heel parts of the two shoes may beselectively positioned and adjusted by direction of a physician toproduce desired results in the treatment of various physical disorders.Thus, use of both heel weights gives a considerable amount of weight inthe heel of the shoe, thus increasing the strength of the largest musclegroup in the calf of the leg, namely the gastrocnemius and the soleusgroup. If desired, strength can be given to the posterior tibial tendonand muscle together with the gastroc and soleus by using only the weightfor opening 38 in the heel portion of the shoe. The openings in theforward part of the Weight-receiving member are also arranged in orderto permit specific results to be accomplished by proper disposition andarrangement of the weights in that part of the shoe. Thus, if all of thecompartments to 26a to 26e, inclusive, are filled with weights this willgive a maximum amount of weight in the forefoot which will strengthenall the tibial and the peroneal muscle groups. If desired, the toeextensors such as the hallucis longus and the other toe extensors couldbe worked on only by using primarily, or solely a weight in opening 26a.Also, weights in openings 26a and 260 could be used solely in order tostrengthen the anterior tibial muscle. If this muscle is extremely Weakto start with 26e alone would be used and then increased to 260. Weightsin openings 26b and 26d can be used solely to exercise the peronealmuscle groups. If these are too weak to support and to lift both weightsthen one alone can be used. If all weights are used in their positionsfurther strengthening of the quadriceps and hamstring muscles will takeplace, together with the back and abdominal muscles.

I claim:

1. A shoe for use by human beings to produce, when worn, selectivelydeterminable therapeutic results beneficial to the body, said shoecomprising an upper and a sole assembly, said sole assembly comprising aWeightreceiving member of generally fiat configuration and beingsubstantially coextensive with the sole assembly said Weight-receivingmember having a front part to underlie the ball part of the foot and arear part to underlie the heel part of the foot, the front part having aplurality of vertical openings therein which open at the upper surfaceof the weight-receiving member into the interior space of the shoe someof which are disposed on opposite sides of the longitudinal center lineof the weight-receiving member and of the shoe, the heel part of theweight-receiving member having two vertical openings therein which openat the upper surface of the weight-receiving member into the interiorspace of the shoe and are disposed at opposite sides of the longitudinalcenter line of the weight receiving member and of the shoe, a pluralityof light-weight plugs which are respectively shaped to fit removablywithin the openings in the weight-receiving member, and a plurality ofweights which are respectively shaped to fit removably within theopenings in the weightreceiving member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,637,565 8/1927 Gordon 272571,741,419 12/1929 Jones 128586 2,424,159 7/1947 Goetz.

FOREIGN PATENTS 18,208 10/ 1899 Great Britain.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner R. W. DIAZ, Assistant Examiner US.Cl. X.R. 36-25

